SMX Advanced in Boston is easily one of the best networking opportunities of the year for search marketers and growth leaders.
Something that makes SMX feel different other conferences I attend: it feels institutional and prestigious, but relaxed, like it was organized by your friends who are happy to see you. Third Door Media deserves major compliments for the high-hospitality and making this such a productive conference for attendees like me.
Search Engine Land has built up so much authority over the years that the event feels official in a way most marketing conferences don’t, and being an attendee genuinely raises your credibility. Yet the whole thing is warm, relaxed, and easy to navigate.
My 2026-27 calendar is filled with some of the top search marketing conferences around the world. Whether I’m attending, sponsoring, or speaking, I try to shine a spotlight on people, teams, and tools that I see doing great things at these events (mainly the first two) as part of my debrief. Attending SMX Advanced 2026 in Boston was a last minute decision for me after a few acquaintances from SEO Week were scheduled to speak, and I’m glad I did.
This is the second conference review of 2026, SEO Week was the first, and MozCon and Search SEOul are coming up next. I attend a lot of marketing conferences, and some people seem to enjoy hearing my thoughts.
To follow my real-time takes on SMX Advanced and other top conferences around the world, follow me on LinkedIn. I also cover SEO Week in NYC, brightonSEO in San Diego, and international events like Search SEOul in South Korea and FOUND Conference in Tokyo.
What Is SMX Advanced?
For anyone who hasn’t been: SMX Advanced is the expert-level edition of the Search Marketing Expo. It is a multi-day search marketing conference run by Search Engine Land and Third Door Media (a Semrush company). The 2026 edition ran June 3–5 in Boston at the Westin Boston Seaport District.
Unlike SEO-AEO specific events I usually attend, SMX Advanced tries to cover the entire search marketing ecosystem by pulling in an equal number of PPC/Advertising experts in addition to SEO/AEO/GEO practitioners.
The format is straightforward:
- Day 1 is mostly Mastermind sessions and networking for all-access pass holders.
- Days 2–3 feature five tracks running simultaneously. Speakers present in one of three grand ballrooms or two smaller theaters, with placement seemingly based on early-signup popularity. Ballroom A is always SEO/AEO/GEO; Ballroom B is always PPC and advertising.
What stood out about the crowd: I noticed fewer SEO “influencers” than at SEO Week, but many more marketing leaders and experts from large companies and institutions. If you’re an agency, consultant, or software tool, that’s a gift… it’s a great place to meet potential clients. The networking is more accessible, too, which made it easy to meet a lot of people. I’ll admit I felt pretty popular compared to SEO Week, mostly because so many attendees were newer to AEO and looking for advice.
A mix of quality attendees and easy networking makes SMX Advanced one of my favorite American marketing conferences of 2026 (so far).
Why SMX Advanced Is a Great Networking Event for Search Marketers
This was my first time at SMX Advanced, so I tried not to have major expectations. Now that I’ve been, this is the event I’d send someone a young search marketer to learn and advanced marketers or business leaders to network.
A few thoughts I had:
- The production is prestigious and totally adequate, but it’s not as cutting-edge or “cool” as SEO Week. I’ll be honest about that, because it sets the right expectation. You don’t come to SMX for fireworks.
- I love the mixture of SEO and PPC attendees. It facilitates more “holistic” conversions and it’s always fun to trade tips with experts with adjacent skill sets.
- The networking is top-notch. The venue layout went a long way to facilitate this compared to SEO Week… especially the outdoor seating areas and multiple open spaces made it easy to strike up conversations casually. The official networking events were well-planned and accessible without being boring, and there were plenty of optional add-ons to choose from depending on your energy level.
- The crowd is more shy and nerdy than SEO Week, but genuinely friendly. People were eager to meet and mingle after the first night.
- Boston is a great city for conferences. It felt like a big city but without the chaos and stress of NYC or Chicago. Which is sort of how Third Door Media made me feel as an attendee at this event… like I was attending something prestigious that happened to be organized by my friends. By the end, I felt relaxed and connected to a lot of my fellow attendees.
The one honest knock, with a few notable exceptions, is that most of the presentations I sat in on were skippable. Which brings me to the exceptions.
Best Presentations and Most Notable Speakers at SMX Advanced 2026
These are the talks and people that made the content side of the trip worth it. You can expect to see longer profiles for many of these presenters added to our running list of go-to speakers and influencers in AI SEO.
Monica Ho (CMO, SOCi)
Monica’s session, Beyond Rankings: How Enterprise Brands Win Visibility in AI-Powered Local Search, was the most actionable talk of the event for me and easily my favorite presentation.
Why was Monica’s presentation my favorite?
- Several presentations covered AEO/GEO frameworks in a generic, vague way. Monica’s deck was specific, actionable, and thorough (without being noisy). The size of the data set behind her talking points added a lot to her presentation.
- I’m highly interested in localized AI Visibility, the topic of her presentation. Because SOCi works with so many local services, her data points were robust and she explained nuances in the data topics in a way that was easy to digest.
- Meeting Monica confirmed the good things I had heard from industry peers. I’ve had a couple of friends work with Monica in the past, and I’ve only heard fantastic things about working with her.
Tost actionable takeaways I’m bringing home from Boston involve implementing pieces of the Local AI Visibility measurement Monica discussed. Measuring how brands show up in localized AI search is exactly the kind of practical, revenue-relevant problem I want Cairrot solving for agencies and multi-location clients, and her framing pushed my thinking forward.
Follow Monica Ho on LinkedIn →
Dawn Anderson (Founder & MD, Bertey) – Keynote Speaker
Dawn Anderson is a respected thought leader, a popular keynote speaker for SEO events, and a member of this year’s SMX Programming Committee. This was my second time watching her present in-person after initially discovering her at SEO Week 2025.
Dawn’s topic was “RAG, context graphs, and agents: Exploring the new architecture of search.” If you naturally think like an engineer or developer (like many of the best SEOs do), Dawn is the right person to make the difference between AEO/GEO and traditional SEO “click” for you.
Side note that says a cool things about her: I ended up running for distance for the first time in years on one of the morning runs, hosted by Dawn and Jeff Clear of Optymyzer. Needless to say I was slow as molasses and Dawn patiently kept me chugging along and made the time fly by with great conversation.
Follow Dawn Anderson on LinkedIn →
Aleyda Solis (Founder, Orainti)
Aleyda is one of the most respected international SEO consultants working and easily in my personal top 10 of SEO leaders who have influenced me with their work. Her topic “Winning organic in 2026: A framework for surviving Google’s AI era” was moderated by Barry Schwartz, SEO Editor at Search Engine Land.
Aleyda has been one of my favorite SEO educators for years. Her international SEO and ecommerce SEO checklists were posted in my cubicle when I was an in-house Demand Gen leader at a global communications company.
The best part of inviting Aleyda to your events isn’t her presentation (although her presentation decks are always among the best of the conference), it’s her personality and charisma. Everytime I saw Aleyda at this event she was surrounded by attendees and was giving them love/attention with a huge smile on her face.
Follow Aleyda Solis on LinkedIn →
Sam Tomlinson (EVP, Strategy & Analytics, Warschawski)
Sam was an engaging speaker, but he didn’t rely on fluff or cheesy humor to kill time. I appreciated his no-nonsense approach to his PPC presentation and felt like I picked up some new tips and tricks even as a fairly advanced PPC veteran myself.
Sam’s topic was “Behavioral PPC: Exploring the cognitive biases behind CTR, CVR, and CPA.”
Follow Sam Tomlinson on LinkedIn →
Sam Torres (Sr. Manager of Tech SEO, Pipedrive)
I caught Sam Torres at SEO Week earlier this year too, so it was good to see her present again. Her Boston talk centered on rendering strategy and JavaScript SEO/AEO/GEO… the argument that how your site renders is a high-stakes SEO decision usually left to engineering, and one that matters more every month as AI crawlers and agents become real sources of traffic.
Her topic at SMX was “Behavioral PPC: Exploring the cognitive biases behind CTR, CVR, and CPA.”
It’s easy to get lost in the weeds of technical SEO and AEO. Sam does a fantastic job focusing on the 80/20 that matters most and getting people to the finish line of their campaigns. This makes two events in a row I’ve seen at, love seeing hard workers out there.
Follow Sam Torres on LinkedIn →
Panel: “Ask the Experts – SEO Unfiltered” (Duane Forrester, Michael King, and Martha Van Burkel
This was my favorite session of the event, full stop. The panel ran June 5 in Grand Ballroom A and featured three heavy hitters: Duane Forrester (Founder of UnboundAnswers.com, ex-Microsoft, the man who launched Bing Webmaster Tools), Michael King (Founder & CEO of iPullRank), and Martha van Berkel (CEO & Co-founder of Schema App).
All three were highly competent, but here’s how it shook out for me. Duane impressed me immensely. Mike King put on the Mike King show and charmed the room. And Martha van Berkel was one of the best new thought leaders I discovered for the first time at this event, I look forward to following and checking out more of her content.
Martha won major cool points with some of her quips. At one point she responded to something Mike King said with “Whoops, I left my Gucci at home.” Hilarious, the room loved it.
Rising Speakers Worth Following for Future Presentations
A few more experts who I saw for the first time and impressed me for some combination of presentation quality, interesting topic, and public speaking ability
Allie Lutin (Senior Product Marketing Manager, CallRail)
Allie Lutin’s topics was “Stop feeding Google garbage: Using AI to clean LSA and PPC signals.”
Her presentation addresses a topic near and dear to my heart… the fight against AI slop. She’s trying to be a force for good on the Paid Search side, I’m addressing it from the Organic Search side.
Also, I’m a brand fan of CallRail, both for their people and their product. I used to mingle with their team when I lived in Georgia. She represented one of our Atlanta software darlings well.
Follow Allie Lutin on LinkedIn ->
Chris Sachs (VP of Value Enablement, seoClarity)
Chris Sachs’ presentation was titled “The SEO + AEO convergence: Change the way you work.”
Chris seems like a good guy with a solid product relative to some of the other vendors at SMX Advanced. He was there to promote their software and that’s to be expected, but he put sincere effort into adding more value with a presentation focused on how to interpret AEO/GEO data into content priorities.
Hope I get a chance to speak with him at a future conference. Follow Chris Sachs on LinkedIn ->
Maggie Humphrey (Director of Ecommerce, Cypress North)
Maggie’s topic was titled “PMax vs. Standard Shopping: Driving ecommerce growth in Google Ads.”
Her presentation hit on a very niche-specific issue I’m constantly dealing with… what is the right balance of automated campaigns vs manual campaigns in Google Ads.
Double interest points for specializing in ecommerce campaigns, with is one of the most competitive (and high-revenue) niches for both organic and paid advertising and a common customer profile we serve at Cairrot.
Follow Maggie Humphrey on LinkedIn ->
SMX Advanced is Adding Another Event in San Diego
And the news worth flagging: SMX is reportedly moving to two events per year instead of one, with a new edition in San Diego. If that holds, brightonSEO suddenly has even more competition out in San Diego…
Is Boston a Good City for a Search Conference?
I loved the convenience of a big city without the chaos of NYC. It’s also refreshing to see a place that still has such a “homegrown” feel — the locals give Boston a character a lot of conference cities have lost.
The venue area was a highlight. Convenient, excellent service, and rooms that were nice and reasonably priced. I especially loved the outdoor space at the conference where you could rest and mingle between sessions. If I’m nitpicking: the theaters and ballrooms do the job, but I personally prefer slightly more intimate stages.
The food was excellent across the board — especially the lobster. And outside the conference itself, I got my steps in: regular walks, the morning run one day, and a scenic harbor walk on the last day (where I met a new friend I’ll get to in a minute).
Boston vs. NYC as a conference city: Boston is more accessible, less chaotic, and easier to manage. The tradeoff is that it offers somewhat more limited networking opportunities and is less densely packed with SEO experts than SEO Week. Both have their place — but if travel logistics stress you out, Boston is the easier yes.
Photo: harbor walk / Boston skyline.
Connect with Sara Droke on LinkedIn →
My Conference Highlights
The highlight of my trip was the last few hours, when I finally got to connect with Lauren, Danny, and a handful of other attendees.
Lauren Donovan of Third Door Media
Lauren Donovan of crushed it as the event organizer all week, and it turns out she’s a lovely person on top of it. Same with her husband Shawn, who also served as the event’s videographer. I enjoyed getting to know her during the beautiful Harbor Walk at the end of the final day. Third Door Media is lucky to have her.
Seyong (Danny) Park of Ascent AI
I connected with Seyong “Danny” Park on the Harbor Walk. He was fun and interesting to shoot the breeze with, which was honestly all I was looking for by the last few hours of the trip.
But then brought up the Search SEOul conference coming up in September, and wouldn’t you know it… Danny is one of the speakers! Turns out Danny is actually a big deal… a proven agency marketing leader in Korea and exactly the kind of person I’d been hoping to meet to learn about the fast-growing Korean SEO market. Now I have another friend to look forward to seeing in Seoul this year, how lucky am I?!
Our meeting comes at a great time. Korea and Japan are emerging as top markets for Cairrot’s AEO platform, and I’ve been looking for more contacts who can help us navigate the exciting but different business landscape of Japan and Korea specifically… what a pleasant surprise. This is why we love going to conferences.
Follow Seyong (Danny) Park on LinkedIn ->
Conductor AI networking event
Conductor AI was kind enough to have us at their after-party on Thursday night, a lovely night in Boston hanging out with other search and tech professionals.
New Friends and Connections
I made two friendly and very interesting new contacts in the Canadian financial services. (Canadians are always so friendly at these things, I always meet a few in the first day of these events).
Wholesome Networking Events
The putt-putt golf on the last night was a great call. Excellent choice of activity. And while I didn’t attend, the fact that Magic the Gathering: Game Night was a popular networking event option shows how cute and wholesome this crowd was.
Profound, Peec AI, Scrunch AI, and AirOps all sat this one out. Peec had a company retreat scheduled that weekend, though I’m not sure what everyone else’s excuse was… maybe they’re still worn out from SEO Week in NYC!
Here’s my read on the broader field: most vendors share the same flaws I called out for Profound, Peec AI, and Scrunch AI. They’re not actually SEO/AEO experts (but they are catching on at a reasonable speed) and they trying to give the market what it says it wants instead of guiding it toward what it actually needs.
AEO + SEO Platforms at SMX Advanced
I like checking out the other tools in the space in person.
Profound, Peec AI, Scrunch AI, and AirOps all sat this one out. Peec had a company retreat scheduled that weekend, though I’m not sure what everyone else’s excuse was… maybe they’re still worn out from SEO Week in NYC!
Here’s my read on the broader field: most vendors share the same flaws I called out for Profound, Peec AI, and Scrunch AI. They’re not actually SEO/AEO experts (but they are catching on at a reasonable speed) and they trying to give the market what it says it wants instead of guiding it toward what it actually needs.
But there are always exceptions.
Dragon Metrics
Dragon Metrics was the one SEO software I hadn’t heard and thought was interesting. It is still behind when it comes to AEO/GEO insights, but the thoroughness of the SEO features makes me feel like there is some genuine expertise on the product team.
Sara Droke impressed me over lunch with her competence and her genuine interest in the space. If she’s any indication of the rest of the team’s caliber, I’m confident Dragon Metrics will be a player we end up competing with eventually. From what I saw, there’s a little more thought and real “SEO love” built into the product than you find in the funded crowd — though I’ll reserve a full verdict until I review it properly against Cairrot.
Connect with Sara Droke on LinkedIn →
DemandSphere
Great to see Ray Grieselhuber and the DemandSphere team, as always… I’m starting to wonder if those guys are ever NOT traveling. DemandSphere remains the AEO/SEO analytics competitor I respect the most, for the same reasons I wrote about after SEO Week.
Speaking of which, I look forward to tickets going on sale for their 2nd annual English-first SEO event, FOUND Conference, to be held in Tokyo in February, 2027. If you’re obsessed with international SEO/AEO like me, put them on your watchlist.
Other SEO/AEO/GEO Platforms
Profound, Peec AI, Scrunch AI, and AirOps all sat this one out. Peec had a company retreat scheduled that weekend, though I’m not sure what everyone else’s excuse was… maybe they’re still worn out from SEO Week in NYC!
Here’s my read on the broader field: most vendors share the same flaw I called out for Profound, Peec AI, and Scrunch AI. They’re trying to give the market what it thinks it wants instead of guiding it toward what it actually needs to deliver AEO results, which results in spamming dashboards with metrics and treating them all as equal, rather than focusing on the KPIs that matter.
That’s exactly where Cairrot is built differently: revenue-focused KPIs, agency-specific features, sane pricing, and real Insights instead of metric soup. If you want to see what that looks like, here’s Cairrot’s AEO reporting tool.
Is SMX Advanced Worth It?
Yes, with one honest caveat.
You don’t come to SMX Advanced for the slides. You come to meet awesome people and build connections. The networking, the caliber of the attendees, and the credibility that comes with being part of a Search Engine Land event are what make it worth the trip. A few sessions, Monica Ho and the SEO Unfiltered panel chief among them, carried the content just fine in my agenda.
Who SMX is most worthwhile for: agencies, consultants, and software founders looking to meet marketing leaders and prospective clients, and in-house leaders who are newer to AEO/GEO and want friendly, accessible networking to level up.
Where I’m Headed Next (2026–2027 Conference Calendar)
This is the second post in the series. Here’s what’s on my radar from here:
- MozCon 2026 on July 14, 2026 in NYC, USA.
- Search SEOul on September 1–4, 2026 in Seoul, South Korea (catching Danny Park and others).
- brightonSEO San Diego 2026 on September 15–16, 2026 in San Diego, USA.
- FOUND Conference by DemandSphere on February 17–18, 2027 in Tokyo, Japan.
I’m also weighing a few European events this year… UK SEO Summit, Search Evolution Summit (Romania), and SEOktoberfest (Austria) among them. I’ll publish reviews on LinkedIn and X as I go.
Full Agenda and Speaker List
SMX Advanced 2026 — Full Agenda
June 3–5, 2026 · The Westin Boston Seaport District, Boston. Speakers and topics by day, programmed by Search Engine Land. All times ET.
| Time | Session & speakers | Track |
|---|---|---|
| 7:00–9:00 PM |
Hang with the Search Engine Land team
Anu Adegbola, Kathy Bushman, Lauren Donovan, Danny Goodwin, Barry Schwartz
Birch Bar (Lobby Level)
|
Networking |
| Time | Session & speakers | Track |
|---|---|---|
| 6:00–7:00 AM | Morning Harbor Run Dawn Anderson, Jeff Clear Lobby |
Networking |
| 6:00–7:00 AM | Morning Yoga Flow Lauren Donovan Stone (Lobby Level) |
Networking |
| 8:00–8:30 AM | It’s New with Barry Schwartz Barry Schwartz, Anu Adegbola, Greg Finn, Mordy Oberstein Commonwealth C |
Solutions |
| 9:00–9:30 AM | Your AI ROI story is broken: How to fix it before budgets get cut Purna Virji Grand Ballroom A/B |
Keynote |
| 9:35–9:50 AM | From rankings to responses: Growing visibility in AI-driven search Chris Sullivan Grand Ballroom C |
Theater |
| 10:00–10:15 AM | A special theater presentation from Bruce Clay Bruce Clay TBA |
Theater |
| 10:20–10:50 AM | Creative direction for Google Ads in a multi-asset world Amy Hebdon Grand Ballroom B |
PPC |
| 10:20–10:50 AM | From search to genAI: New research on consumer trust, brand strategy, and discovery Kelsey Libert Grand Ballroom A |
SEO |
| 10:20–10:50 AM | From clicks to clarity with AI Megan Pakes Commonwealth C |
Solutions |
| 10:20–10:35 AM | A special theater presentation from Nozzle Derek Perkins TBA |
Theater |
| 10:40–10:55 AM | How AI lead scoring turns your search traffic into predictable pipeline Josh Muskin Grand Ballroom C |
Theater |
| 11:00–11:15 AM | Stop feeding Google garbage: Using AI to clean LSA and PPC signals Meagan McLoughlin Grand Ballroom C |
Theater |
| 11:20–11:50 AM | Behavioral PPC: Exploring the cognitive biases behind CTR, CVR, and CPA Sam Tomlinson Grand Ballroom B |
PPC |
| 11:20–11:50 AM | Winning organic in 2026: A framework for surviving Google’s AI era Aleyda Solis Grand Ballroom A |
SEO |
| 11:20–11:50 AM | Searchpocalypse AI: Zero-click searches are surging and AI traffic isn’t filling the gap Eli Goodman Commonwealth C |
Solutions |
| 11:20–11:35 AM | How La Maison Simons rebuilt Performance Max: A case study Ben Riggle Grand Ballroom C |
Theater |
| 11:40–11:55 AM | The local content crisis in the age of AI search Shawn Huber, Sebastian Pawlowski TBA |
Theater |
| 12:00–12:15 PM | From feedback to features: Driving Microsoft Advertising forward Dewey Carter, Milton Reis TBA |
Theater |
| 12:20–12:35 PM | Where B2B lead generation is going in the next year Nate Burke TBA |
Theater |
| 12:40–12:55 PM | Zero-click search: Winning visibility without the click Mikkel Nielsen Grand Ballroom C |
Theater |
| 1:00–1:30 PM | The control shift: Winning with AI-driven Google Ads Brad Geddes Grand Ballroom B |
PPC |
| 1:00–1:30 PM | Predicting and influencing AI citations with retrieval signals Dave Davies Grand Ballroom A |
SEO |
| 1:00–1:30 PM | AI-amplified marketers: How agents and MCPs turn AI into real PPC workflows Frederick Vallaeys Commonwealth C |
Solutions |
| 1:00–1:15 PM | Using conversations to build your Google conversions Chris Todd Grand Ballroom C |
Theater |
| 1:20–1:35 PM | Link building for legitimacy in the new AIO/SEO landscape Michael Johnson TBA |
Theater |
| 1:40–1:55 PM | The “Great Reversal” and the AI search reality John Halfpenny Grand Ballroom C |
Theater |
| 2:00–2:30 PM | Engineering affinity: Optimizing for memory and personalization in AI Crystal Carter Grand Ballroom A |
SEO |
| 2:00–2:30 PM | Using first-party data to modernize paid media measurement Ben Vigneron Grand Ballroom B |
PPC |
| 2:00–2:30 PM | The new SEO playbook: Scaling SEO operations with AI-driven workflows Darrell Tyler Commonwealth C |
Solutions |
| 2:00–2:30 PM | Clinic: AI + local SEO at scale Andrew Beckman, Andrew Shotland Grand Ballroom C |
Theater |
| 2:35–2:50 PM | The AI account revolution: Why keywords are dead and how one enterprise rebuilt for publisher intelligence Kyle Thomas Grand Ballroom C |
Theater |
| 2:55–3:10 PM | The SEO + AEO convergence: Change the way you work Chris Sachs TBA |
Theater |
| 3:15–3:45 PM | Using AI agents to boost PPC productivity Nils Rooijmans Grand Ballroom B |
PPC |
| 3:15–3:45 PM | Less busywork, more GEO: Agentic tools in action Will Scott Grand Ballroom A |
SEO |
| 3:15–3:45 PM | How 15 years of link building prepared me for AI search Garrett French Commonwealth C |
Solutions |
| 3:15–3:30 PM | Rankings up, traffic down? Find out why with STAT Stephanie Cheung Grand Ballroom C |
Theater |
| 3:35–3:50 PM | Does Google hate AI content? What SEOs need to know in 2026 Madeleine Lambert TBA |
Theater |
| 3:55–4:10 PM | Turning high-intent calls into predictable revenue Bob Wood Grand Ballroom C |
Theater |
| 4:15–4:45 PM | The AI-powered marketing machine: Unifying SEO and paid into a single growth system Amanda Farley Grand Ballroom B |
PPC |
| 4:15–4:45 PM | Stop reacting. Start leading: Change management for search’s next era Jennifer Cornwell Grand Ballroom A |
SEO |
| 4:15–4:45 PM | Organic, paid, and AI search: One strategy to rule them all Brad Stephenson Commonwealth C |
Solutions |
| 4:15–4:45 PM | Clinic: Transform your landing pages to convert the traffic you already have Brian Massey Grand Ballroom C |
Theater |
| 6:30–7:30 PM | PPC Live with Anu Adegbola Anu Adegbola, Amanda Farley, Greg Finn, Aaron Levy, Susan Yen Webster (Lobby Level) |
Networking |
| 6:30–7:30 PM | SEO Solutions Lab Danny Goodwin, Barry Schwartz Stone (Lobby Level) |
Networking |
| 6:30–7:30 PM | Magic: The Gathering Game Night Navah Hopkins, George Nguyen Quincy (Lobby Level) |
Networking |
| Time | Session & speakers | Track |
|---|---|---|
| 6:00–7:00 AM | Morning Harbor Run Dawn Anderson, Jeff Clear Lobby |
Networking |
| 6:00–7:00 AM | Morning Yoga Flow Lauren Donovan Stone (Lobby Level) |
Networking |
| 9:00–9:30 AM | RAG, context graphs, and agents: Exploring the new architecture of search Dawn Anderson Grand Ballroom A |
Keynote |
| 9:00–9:30 AM | Agentic PPC: What’s real, what’s hype, what’s next Anu Adegbola, Andrea Cruz, Danny Gavin, Aashna Makin Grand Ballroom B |
Keynote |
| 9:35–9:50 AM | From SEO to GEO: Increasing AI search Share of Voice in 90 days Christian Hustle Grand Ballroom C |
Theater |
| 10:15–10:45 AM | Turning behavioral insight into high-performing loyalty campaigns Ed Poppe Grand Ballroom B |
PPC |
| 10:15–10:45 AM | Built for browsers, invisible to agents: Bridging the rendering gap for AI and search Sam Torres Grand Ballroom A |
SEO |
| 10:15–10:45 AM | A special solutions presentation by Bruce Clay Bruce Clay Commonwealth C |
Solutions |
| 11:30 AM–12:00 PM | The SERP is sinking: What pixel-depth data reveals about visibility Tom Capper Grand Ballroom A |
SEO |
| 11:30 AM–12:00 PM | Welcome to the signal-first era: Rethinking search strategy in AI Max Susan Yen Grand Ballroom B |
PPC |
| 11:30 AM–12:00 PM | Building a brand worth finding: Signals that fuel discovery Beth Nunnington Commonwealth C |
Solutions |
| 11:35 AM–12:05 PM | Clinic: Computer use vs. WebMCP — A live audit of agentic understanding Dave Davies Grand Ballroom C |
Theater |
| 12:10–12:25 PM | Brand control and visibility for AI and the agentic web Martha van Berkel Grand Ballroom C |
Theater |
| 12:30–1:00 PM | Entity optimization in 2026: Schema, site architecture, and signals that define your brand Grant Simmons Grand Ballroom A |
SEO |
| 12:30–1:00 PM | PMax vs. Standard Shopping: Driving ecommerce growth in Google Ads Maggie Humphrey Grand Ballroom B |
PPC |
| 12:30–1:00 PM | Clinic: Audit your PPC accounts for peak performance Greg Finn, Brad Geddes, Amy Hebdon Grand Ballroom C |
Theater |
| 2:00–2:30 PM | Agentic commerce: Adapting ecommerce SEO strategies for the AI era Kyle Risley Grand Ballroom A |
SEO |
| 2:00–2:30 PM | Mastering Demand Gen campaigns for B2B marketers Jack Hepp Grand Ballroom B |
PPC |
| 2:45–3:15 PM | Ask the experts: SEO unfiltered Duane Forrester, Danny Goodwin, Michael King, Martha van Berkel Grand Ballroom A |
SEO |
| 2:45–3:15 PM | Ask the experts: PPC unfiltered Anu Adegbola, Dii Pooler, Heidi Sturrock, Sam Tomlinson Grand Ballroom B |
PPC |
| 4:00–5:00 PM | Scenic Harbor Walk Lauren Donovan Lobby |
Networking |
Source: official SMX Advanced 2026 program (Search Engine Land / Third Door Media). Styling derived from the Cairrot Brand Asset Kit v1.0 — Cairrot Green primary, black labels on brand fills, neutral surfaces, 12px card radius. searchengineland.com/smx/advanced/agenda
Search Marketing Expo FAQ
Is SMX Advanced worth the price?
Yes, especially if you’re going for the networking. The caliber of attendees, the accessibility of the room, and the credibility of a Search Engine Land event more than justify it. It’s among my favorite American conferences of the year for meeting people who matter.
Who should attend SMX Advanced?
Agency operators, consultants, and software founders who want to meet marketing leaders and prospective clients, plus in-house marketers who are newer to AEO/GEO and want a friendly, low-stress room to learn in.
SMX Advanced vs. SEO Week
They serve different goals. SMX Advanced is easier, more convenient, lower-stress, and arguably the better pure-networking event for the average search marketer. SEO Week has the more cutting-edge content and a denser concentration of SEO experts. If you can only do one and you want to “check in with the industry”, SMX; if you want to learn from its sharpest practitioners, see all the biggest platforms, and don’t mind a more chaotic environment, SEO Week.
When and where is SMX Advanced 2027?
SMX is now expanding to two events per year, including a San Diego edition, which will be held in October. Check out Search Engine Land for exact event details.
Let’s Connect at an Upcoming Conference
If you’re heading to any of these, reach out. I’d love to meet, talk shop, or grab coffee.
The way to reach me is on LinkedIn. Follow for real-time takes of global marketing conferences, search news, and pragmatic tips for SEO and AEO.
See you out there!
